Captivated by the preaching of Francis, the young Clare of Assisi decides to consecrate herself to God, facing the hatred of the world and the opposition of her family.

Newsroom (August 11, 2021, 12:55 PM, Gaudium Press) Clare was born in Assisi on or around July 11, 1194, of a noble family. She was the daughter of Favorino and Ortolana. […]

Luminous and illustrious, she grew up in the house of Assisi, surrounded by comfort. Since her childhood, she was charitable to the poor and devoted to prayer.

It is said that when she didn’t have the means to count the Our Fathers and Hail Marys during prayer, she used pebbles.

Under her rich dresses, she wore a cilice of rather rough hair. At fifteen, she was tall and beautiful, collected and silent, with beautiful blonde hair.

“To rob the wicked world of such noble prey”

Her parents decided one day to arrange her marriage. Among the many suitors, one in particular pleased Favorino and Ortolana. They talked to their daughter about it and were very surprised at the beautiful girl’s firm negative answer.

Clare didn’t want to hear about marriage, and as her mother began to torment her with questions seeking the reason for her obstinate refusal, Clare revealed to her that she had consecrated herself to God and was firmly resolved never to meet any man.

Having heard about Francis, son of Peter Bernardone, suddenly converted in 1208, and who now led a life in imitation of Jesus Christ, the One who did not even have a rock on which to rest his head, she was deeply moved. […]

Francis had already heard of Clare and decided to “steal from the evil world such a noble prey,” as the legend says, in order that she may be devoted to God.

So he soon began to advise her, frankly, to despise the vain and transitory world, to resist her parents and keep her body as a temple for God alone, and to have no other spouse but Our Lord Jesus Christ.

St. Francis, from then on, became a guide and spiritual father to St. Clare, who, feeling very sure of herself, was preparing for the great day in which she would give herself totally to the things of God.

Francis himself cut her hair

The great day was coming. On March 18, 1212, the morning of Palm Sunday, she went to church with her mother, her sisters, and the women who usually accompanied them.

And while the others hurried to receive the branches, out of modesty, Clare stayed in her place. And the Bishop, coming down from the altar, came to offer her a branch.

The next night, she prepared to escape, following Francis’ order. She secretly left home and took the direction of St. Mary of the Angels to where the brothers, who were singing Matins, welcomed her by the light of large torches.

Before the altar of the Queen of Virgins, Francis cut her hair and clothed her in the habit of penance.

Then Clare, moved by emotion, pronounced the vow of poverty and chastity. All that she had brought with her that was precious, she distributed to the poor.

And Francis, also moved, immediately took her to a monastery of nuns of St. Benedict in St. Paul of Assisi, where he left her. Clare was then eighteen years old.

Unyielding resistance to promises and threats

The refuge of Favorino’s daughter was soon discovered. Clare had escaped the house through a door which was almost always closed, called the door of death because the dead were taken out of the house here. Her father noticed that a pile of firewood that had been placed against the door had been completely removed.

Having discovered the whereabouts of his daughter, the father, along with some relatives, went to bring her back home.

The Clare that Favorino found was an absolutely different Clare from the obedient young girl he knew very well. She was resolute and unyielding; her father’s promises and threats were of no avail to dissuade her from the new life she intended to lead.

They then used violence, but Clare, freeing herself from her father’s hands, ran to the church altar, and there removed the veil that covered her head, showing it to all, shaven, making it understood that, forever and ever, she had solemnly said goodbye to the life she once knew.

As Favorino continually attempted to recover his daughter, Francis decided to transfer her to another convent, where the young girl would be more protected. Saint Clare was transferred to Saint Angelo of Panzo, also of the Benedictines.

Her sister Ines also becomes a nun

Favorino’s anger reached its peak when he learned that sixteen days after Clare’s flight, Ines had also fled to meet her sister.

Already engaged with her wedding day set, she had left her parents, her family, her beautiful home, and her relationships to live as her sister did, far from everything and everyone.

Fretfully, Clare and Ines’ father pleaded with Monaldo, his children’s uncle, to find many armed men and, at all costs, to persuade them to live with him.

Monaldo, and the men he had gathered, arrived at the convent gates, pretending to come in peace. He only wanted the nuns to give him the young woman who had run away from her father’s house, and nothing else.

However, according to the response, they would use force. The nuns of San Angelo were, in front of those armed men, seized with dread, and promised to bring Ines to them without delay.

The daughter of Favorino, however, resisted: she was there, she had come to stay, and would by no means leave.

Conquered by the prayer of Saint Clare

Then, suddenly, one of the men jumped up and seized her, furious at the girl’s refusal, and began to thrash her, kicking her roughly and pulling her by the hair. Ines, dragged along the path, burst into screams, calling her sister to help her.

Only God, who can do all things, could help Ines.

And Clare, in her simple little cell, all in the ardor of faith, while her sister, dragged, with torn clothes, all flayed, was being led to Assisi, prayed to God to come, benignly, to the help of two poor and fragile women.

And then, the robust and victorious men felt that a strange force no longer allowed them to drag the very light daughter of Favorino.

Heavy as if she were made of lead, they could not pull her even a centimeter, no matter how hard they tried. In vain, the brutes shook her, pounded her, tried to lift her, to do anything.

Uncle Monaldo, very angry, approached his niece. He looked at her, his eyes staring, and, overcome by an unparalleled fury, he raised his arm, his iron gloved fist, to strike her.

When he went to bring it down, with all his strength, on his niece’s face, he couldn’t do it. Uncle Monaldo was petrified. With his arm raised, his threatening fist raised, he was a statue of rage mixed with surprise.

What happened to him? After the ardent prayer, Clare left the cell and went downstairs. She approached the men, took Ines protectively to herself, and her uncle and his astonished and surprised companions left them alone and went to Assisi.

From that day on, Favorino and his family no longer meddled in the lives of the two girls, allowing them to live the life they so desired to live. […]

Princesses who found their glory in poverty

From Saint Angelo, Clare moved on to San Damiano, the first church that Saint Francis restored.

It was there that a life of work and prayer, of poverty and joy, really flourished. The news of San Damiano spread throughout the world. And Saint Clare had the consolation of seeing her mother and many other women of the city embrace the austerities of penance.

The community soon grew to sixteen women, three of whom were from the illustrious family of the Ubaldini of Florence. There, in San Damiano, even princesses found more glory in Clare’s poverty than in the possession of goods, pleasures, and honors of this world.

Father René-François Rohrbacher

Text excerpted from the Heralds of the Gospel Magazine n.212, August 2019.

Compiled by Sarah Gangl